Last season at Freighter View Farms, I grew twenty varieties of heirloom tomatoes in raised beds along Saginaw Bay. Some were returning favorites. Some were first-year experiments. All of them taught me something.
Here’s what I learned.
The Reliable Ones
Certain varieties earn their place every year. Cherokee Purple remains the best-tasting tomato I grow — deep, complex, almost smoky. It’s not the prettiest on the vine and the skins crack if you look at them wrong, but the flavor is unmatched. Black Krim runs close behind, with a similar depth but a slightly more acidic bite that works beautifully in salads.
Brandywine is the classic for a reason. Massive fruits, that old-fashioned tomato taste people describe when they say “tomatoes used to taste like something.” The tradeoff is production — Brandywine gives you fewer, larger fruits, so you need to supplement with more prolific varieties if you’re feeding a family.
The Surprises
Piennolo del Vesuvio was the standout discovery. These small, pointed Italian tomatoes hang in clusters and have a concentrated sweetness that intensifies as they dry. In southern Italy, they’re hung in cellars and used through winter. Here in Michigan, I’m experimenting with the same approach — harvesting whole clusters and hanging them in a cool room. The flavor at Christmas was extraordinary.
Costoluto Fiorentino surprised me with its versatility. Deeply ribbed and almost ugly, it makes the best sauce I’ve ever tasted from a fresh tomato. I’ll be saving extra seeds from this one.
The Disappointments
Not every variety works in Zone 6a. Some need longer seasons than Michigan provides. A few varieties that looked promising in the seed catalog struggled with our cooler nights and shorter growing window. That’s part of the process — you trial, you evaluate, you adjust. The varieties that can’t hack it here get replaced by ones that can.
What I’m Changing This Year
I’m going deeper on single-stem pruning this season. Last year I single-stemmed about half my plants. The difference in fruit quality was noticeable — larger fruits, less disease pressure, better airflow. This year, every indeterminate variety gets single-stemmed.
I’m also expanding my seed saving to include more isolation techniques. When you’re growing twenty varieties in close proximity, maintaining genetic purity takes planning. I’ll be using timing and distance this season, staggering plantings so that different varieties flower at different times.
The search for the perfect slicing tomato continues. I haven’t found it yet. But every season gets me closer, and that’s the whole point of growing your own — you get to keep refining, keep selecting, keep saving the best seeds from the best fruits. The garden improves because you do.
Twenty varieties sounds like a lot, and it is. But in a small garden, each one earns its place or loses it. That’s the deal. The garden has no room for sentiment — only for what grows well, tastes great, and saves true.
— Chris Izworski writes from Freighter View Farms on the shores of Saginaw Bay in Bay City, Michigan.
Chris Izworski is a Michigan gardener, writer, and AI technologist based on Saginaw Bay. He writes at Freighter View Farms about Zone 6a gardening, seed saving, and practical AI in public safety.
Freighter View Farms | Chris Izworski 
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